Full disclosure – I am a member of the author’s
writing group and read partial drafts of Jupiter
Justice before it came out. Having
said that, I paid full price for my copy and really enjoyed reading it. It’s a great near-future romp.

Set in a plausible mid-future Solar System, Jupiter Justice is the story of Rico
Schroeder. Thanks to fusion power, the
Solar System is open for business, but fusion power is slow – or at least
slower than humans would like. Rico is
part of one international team working on his generation’s X-Prize, developing
a working anti-matter space drive. It’s
a very high-stakes endeavor, not just for the prize money but for political and
economic control of the Solar System.

The stakes are high enough that people are
getting killed over the competition.
Rico has to make an abrupt transition from his test-pilot job back to
his previous profession – cop – and figure out who done it. That’s if Rico can stay alive long enough, as
his investigation puts him immediately in the murderer’s cross-hairs.

Don writes in a brisk and clear style, and he’s
done a lot of research getting his facts right.
There’s a bit of romance thrown in, as Rico rekindles an old flame, and
plenty of action. I found the story
well-written and enjoyable. I think you
will too.

Void Contract is the story of Max Culp, human
medic and assassin. In the fairly far
future, humanity has developed faster-than-light ships, made contact with
various alien races and in true human fashion fought a war with one race. Humanity won that war, although the alien
race defeated in said war still exists.
Oh, and there’s an over-race, the Magi, running around, who bestow
technology on other races as they see fit.

In this
very interesting world, Max, a !Kung tribesman descended from a group resettled
from a dying Earth, is trying to make a living. Max does so by killing sentient beings. In the first chapter, he’s doing so to repay
a debt to the aliens who protected his people.
Then, via a circuitous set of events, Max finds himself responsible for
a “Goat” (Satyr-like alien) named Reuben, and forced to kill people to save
Rueben. This is where things get
interesting.

Frankly, I
like these kind of books. Who wouldn’t
want to travel the stars, cracking wise with various alien races? Personally, even if they are shooting at me
(and I’m highly allergic to bullets) I’d be glad to sign up. Having said that, I’m a sucker for these kind
of stories. It’s hard to do them wrong.

Fortunately,
Scott Rhine understands what makes this fun, and he delivers. There’s the right amount of war-weariness,
wise-cracking and do-or-die in his story.
There’s also a nice refreshing bit of sex, and not one but two mysterious
aliens of difference species. This is
space opera, not science fiction, so the science is of the “I push this and X
happens” variety, but in this genre that’s frequently considered a feature, not
a bug. Overall, a nice romp through a
world that I’d like to visit, warts and all.

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